Introduction:
Water is vital to our world and beyond. However we are not always sure what exactly is in the water everywhere and every time we drink it. Sulfur can be known as a solid, although when it contaminates our water it is in liquid form, called sulfide. My hypothesis was that there would not be any sulfide in the water.
Is it necessary to survive? How can it affect humans?
Sulfide is not necessary for life, or basically to survive. A large amount of it can make a laxative affect on humans, and can lead to dehydration. Hydrogen sulfide can be poisonous and is flammable. The amounts usually present in water does not out health at risk, only when it is in high concentrations. However if there is a large amount it can cause nausea extreme illness' and can lead to death.
What is Sulfide?
Sulfates and sulfide are a combination from oxygen and sulfur. Underground in the soil, it is part of a natural occurring mineral that makes up rocks and stones in groundwater. When the mineral dissolves its components are released into groundwater making a dissolved solid present.
What is Sulfur reducing Bacteria?
Sulfur reducing bacteria uses sulfur as an energy source. Because of this, they are one of the major producers of hydrogen sulfide. Doing this, natural sulfates are changed into hydrogen sulfide which is produced by decomposing materials, which are dissolved solids or minerals, that enter the water. Sulfur reducing bacteria is like phosphorus because they are minerals/nutrients that bacteria is attracted to. It lives in several places in our environment such as plumbing systems, deep or shallow wells etc., places that are oxygen deficient.
How can it get through to our water? How can we detect it?
During any if these processes the sulfide can come through to the surface water, which is the water we drink. Hydrogen sulfide makes a a strong rotten egg like odor as well as taste. It can blacken your water with a dark slime that hardens your water and because hardness is caused by overflowing minerals. With hard water there is always high alkalinity. On occasion it is from a hot water heater source, the odor can be reduced by a chemical that appears in many hot water heaters called a magnesium corrosion control rod.
Where may it be hiding?
Sulfate usually builds up in water pipes, and plumbing systems which causes water to be hard and makes it more turbid due to less clearness. and will give water a bitter taste like when there is copper in your water, it also changes color making unbalanced chemicals. Sulfate can also endanger humans or any young livestock.
Discussion:
My results basically meant there was no sulfide present in our school water. My hypothesis of there being no sulfide present was correct as well. Doing an experiment is not easy, there may be a mistake you make and you don't realize, which would affect your results and their accuracy. Or else the experiment alone may not be a perfect way to see whether or not the water contains a certain component. In this experiment the procedure I followed should have shown whether or not there would be sulfide in the water, if it was an accurate procedure. However, the way I did it could have been the less accurate part. Due to the fact that I might have added one to many drops of one of the solutions, or then again I could have put one to less drops of the solutions, which could alter the results of this experiment. For this problem I am not sure what exactly can be done. Except for being very careful when going about the procedure. Which is what I tried to do. Therefore, as you can see our school water is safe from sulfide, an getting to us through the water we drink everyday in school of the future.
PROCEDURE: The steps we followed:
1). Measure 5ml. of the water into the graduated tube
2). Add 15 drops of sulfide test solution #1 and mix
3). Add 3 drops of sulfide test solution #2, mix, and let stand for 1 minute
4). Add 20 drops of sulfide test solution #3 and mix
5). If liquid becomes blue, sulfide is present
RESULTS: And the results we got:
-For step 2, the waters color didn't really change, however now there was 6ml. of liquid in the tube. So the solution added 1ml. of liquid.
-For step 3, when I first added the yellow substance it dropped to the bottom and a light surface of it was on top. When mixed the color was a pale, pale peach color, only around 10 seconds later the color has changed back to a pale yellow.
-For step 4, it made a white layer of fog like texture on the bottom, when mixed the water seemed to be clear again.
-For step 5, the water didn't turn blue, so our forth floor water fountain water doesn't contain sulfide. Meaning the water was tested sulfide negative.
This photo is a picture of the materials used in my test; solution #1, solution #2, and solution #3, and a graduated tube.
This picture above, is one of a wall of rock with solid sulfide on it
The picture here, right above is a photo of a rock wall with streaming sulfide